Pedrosa never felt ‘inferior’ to Marquez, but ‘he did things I couldn’t match’

And although Pedrosa never won a premier class title while both Stoner and Marquez did whilst team-mate to the Spaniard, the now KTM test rider enjoyed his fair share of success against both men. 

Stoner won two titles in MotoGP - one of which was with Honda - while Marquez has claimed six premier class titles.

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Five of those came whilst team-mate to Pedrosa, with his final title win to date coming in 2019 when riding alongside Jorge Lorenzo, who replaced Pedrosa after switching from Ducati. 

But even amongst the large amounts of success of both Stoner and particularly Marquez, Pedrosa never felt ‘inferior’ even though matching their performance was impossible at times. 

Speaking on the fourth episode of the DAZN docuseries ‘Cuatro Tiempos’, Pedrosa said: "I had strong riders like Stoner or Marc as teammates, but at the time I considered myself equal to them, not inferior. 

"Marc is a different rider. He was impressive on the track because he did things that I couldn’t match. 

"I knew that if I crashed like him I would end up in hospital because I would have been broken. I was aware that I was risking more."

Pedrosa, who is the most successful MotoGP rider never to win the title, claimed 31 wins and over 100 podiums in what was a glittering career.

However, one of the big changes that seemed to affect Pedrosa more than Marquez, was the switch from Bridgestone tyres to Michelin.

Pedrosa never enjoyed the same success as on Bridgestone tyres whilst Marquez continued to be a winning machine despite also competing against the likes of Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, before Andrea Dovizioso and Ducati became his main challengers.

Recalling Marquez’ 'special' ability to make such a change look easy and win on less than perfect machinery, Pedrosa continued: "There were times when the bike went very well and I was fast but if it didn’t go well, I struggled. 

"Marc, no. He has that special ability to win with non-perfect bikes. When we switched from Bridgestone to Michelin we had difficulties, especially me, but he managed to adapt to the tyres and win the championship."